Ameren concludes city could use right of way for transmission project

Ameren Missouri has no objections to a proposed transmission line that would neighbor one of its own in northern Columbia, the company said in a recently released study.

The city of Columbia paid Ameren $10,000 to conduct a study to establish the feasibility of using the company's existing rights of way for a city project to install high-voltage transmission lines. The Columbia City Council will review the study in its next meeting, which is set for Monday.

Columbia Water and Light, the city’s public utility, highlighted the need for another transmission line in 2007 to increase redundancy and capacity in the city’s electric grid. The project will add 161-kV transmission lines and a new substation to the city's system.

The city council approved a route through south Columbia in 2013, but negative feedback from residents about the potential effects on their health and property values led the council to look at other routes. Mayor Brian Treece proposed “Option E,” a route in northern Columbia adjacent to Ameren’s existing 345-kilovolt transmission line.

The city line would connect the Perche Creek and Bolstad substations. A primary goal of the project is to add a second 161-kV transmission line to the Perche Creek substation, city spokesman Steve Sapp said. The substation only has a 69-kV line, and if that line stops running, the city has no backup, he said.

Ameren approved the transmission line project as long as it does not interfere with the private utility's 345-kV McCredie-Overton transmission line. Ameren did not find any legal reasons not to allow the city to build a transmission line in its right of way, but doesn't have the legal authority to grant the city use of the right of way, the company said in its study report.

If the council approves the route, the city will have to negotiate land use agreements with property owners. Sapp said the city uses assessed value to help determine compensation for property owners, and that using the courts to acquire land is a last resort.

Ameren's line passes through a residential neighborhood about 2 miles west of the Bolstad substation, between North Oakland Gravel Road and Highway 63, according to the study. The line passes through another neighborhood more than 5 miles west of the same substation, between North O'Neal Road and North Creasy Springs Road.

Another transmission line is parallel to the Ameren line along its south edge, which could affect the route of the city's transmission line. The McCredie-Overton line also cuts through a golf course south of Interstate 70.

The city's next move is to meet with Ameren to discuss more details of the project, Fifth Ward Councilman Matt Pitzer said. A meeting has not been scheduled.

"It provides another potential solution, and I think we should go ahead and investigate it further, and I fully support doing that as quickly as possible," he said. "I think there is an opportunity to collaborate here with Ameren."

So far, the city has spent more than $4 million on the project, including $1.5 million on land acquisition and $71,085 on engineering and surveying for the planned Mill Creek substation.

bruess@columbiatribune.com

573-815-1722

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